pampered chef

Turkey Trots are one of the coolest things EVER during November, and you need to get a jump on the details NOW!

So if you’ve been around direct sales for awhile, chances are you know all about the Turkey Trot! The idea is that you get 6 people to collect $100 in orders. Then you submit as one big party and divide up the hostess benefits, right? Most of us are experts at this. But if you’re new, it can be very confusing. So to help out our newer consultants, and make sure they can be just as successful as the pros…I made this quick training video in order to show our newer consultants just how to run a Turkey Trot!

But I BET…I can show some old dogs some new tricks too…so don’t think you got this down old dogs!

Throughout the year, they will be named all different kinds of things according to the season or holiday, but the concept will always be the same!

And why on Earth would you want to do this?

Let me tell you a little turkey story…

Once there was this customer. She was too scared to commit to collecting an entire party by herself. She wasn’t confident her friends would support her. So she came across this crazy nut job of a consultant, who was offering prizes for collecting HALF of a party. So she decided to give it a try. Because even though her consultant is nuts, she’s kinda fun and it couldn’t be that bad to collect $100 in orders, right?

And BAM!

Just like that…you got her to book a party. You helped her overcome a fear of direct sales that she didn’t even know she had. And now you have a lifelong hostess and happy customer. Along with lots of new gobble gobble friends of hers that want to try next time 🙂

Have you ever done a RESTAURANT Party??

This is so much fun and so easy to do!

I recently went to one held by another direct sales company (at an Applebees Restaurant) and was SHOCKED at how well it was going for her!

I am a people-person, so I started conversations with the other guests there and they were talking about what a great idea this restaurant party was because there was no “sales pitch” and they could come and go as they pleased, and could eat dinner or get drinks if they wanted to! How awesome is that??

This consultant basically had 2 parties going on at the same time, with 2 different hostesses.

She didn’t even have it in a back room or anything, her party was at 4 tables near the back of the restaurant, but still in the dining room. One table in the middle had a simple product display. So what do the hostesses love about it? Well, you know me, I totally asked them! They said they loved being able to host it somewhere NOT at their home, where they didn’t have to clean or cook, or kick out the hubby and kids for the night! It more like a Girls Night Out where people stop by during a 2-3 hour time frame. This restaurant offered 1/2 price appetizers during a certain time period, so the hostesses each ordered a few for their individual tables. When the guests came in they sat down for a bit with their hostess, had some appetizers, maybe got themselves a drink, checked out the product display, grabbed a catalog, asked questions, placed product orders and left (or hung out)! Fast and simple! In fact, it turns out that most of them were actually on their way home from work, so they just stopped by on their way.

Top 5 reasons to host parties at a restaurant:

1. Free or cheap venue (especially if you hold it in the regular dining room)
2. Open house style, people come and go as they please!
3. Food — potential 1/2 price appetizers, drinks and hostess can buy or guests can buy themselves
4. Super easy for the hostess — no cooking, cleaning or kicking out family
5. Perfect “girls night” feel

This is a great out-of-the-box booking idea, something different.

What have you go to lose? Choose your favorite restaurant, I am thinking a local Mexican place margarita specials is gonna be my go-to place! Who wouldn’t want to come to that?? 😉 Why not start by just hosting your own party at the restaurant? In fact, maybe you book one every month during the first week of the month to share new products, specials, etc and invite your entire customer group and friend/acquaintance circle to your local Girls Night Out event.

Summers are just crawling with lots of awesome local vendor table opportunities.

People are out and about and you can really take advantage of the inexpensive, outdoor vendor tables at fairs, community festivals, art shows, wine festivals, carnivals and more!

I have been to more than my fair share of events over the last 10 years and I’m STUNNED at the vendor table set ups many times. It’s like people just decided that morning, “Hey! I think I will go set up a booth today!” They’re messy, overcrowded displays that honestly look like yard sale tables! Let’s talk about 3 important steps when it comes to planning for a booth event!

1. Design with Purpose:
When you are talking about your booth layout, you need to design with purpose.

How much space do you have?

What do you want to have happen in that space?

Do you want a U-shape where customer physically “enters” your booth space?

Or do you want to have one single table out front?

Chairs or no chairs?

How many people can be in/at your booth at one time?

Where will you take orders?

Where does the excess stock and the carrying tubs go?

You need to think this all through long before you are at the event. I have been so many vendor events before where I completely skip over a booth because how they have it set up does not work, it is not welcoming and it is just awkwardly set up. Draw it out in advance or better yet, set it up in advance in your basement or office so you can get a good look at it and what you are thinking, sometimes you just need to “try it on” and see if it fits, kinda like that outfit you thought was amazing until you actually tried it on in the dressing room. What you think looks good in your head doesn’t always look good once you try it, right? Take the time to make this right!

2. Decorate with Intention:
People are attracted to your vendor table by what they see when they first glance at the table. People will judge and decide whether they will approach your table in the first 3 seconds of seeing it. You need to really UP your decor game. Spend some time researching tablescapes because that is basically what you are building here.

Every inch of your tablescape (and your booth as a whole) needs to work together and be visually stimulating. Pick a theme for your table. For example, this summer you could do a Fun in the Sun theme and feature a large beach towel as your tablecloth, sand buckets to hold catalogs, etc. Think outside of the box, stroll down the summer aisle at the Dollar Store and get creative!

3. Dress for Success!
Anyone who knows me know that I am not a dress up girl! I like to be totally comfortable, you will never catch me at a vendor event in a dress or even in professional dress because it is not in my personality, but you will always find me dressed for success. I ALWAYS wear logowear like it is a uniform when I do my events. I want people to know what company I am with as soon as they see me, whether they are coming to my booth, or if they see me out and about at the event.

Just like people judge your table before they approach it, trust me, they are pre-judging you too. Fix your hair, put on a little make up and be ready to meet and greet everyone you see! And let’s be honest, it’s not just them judging us, we tend to pre-judge them to, we all do it!! Make sure you’re dressed for success and you’re approachable and smiling! It seems sad that I even have to write about this part, but like I said, I have been a part of many, many vendor events and I have seen more bedheads and just-slept-in-this outfits than I care to admit.

This blog post was inspired by a recent vendor event where the entire event felt very bland and boring, and I got the impression that the guests at the event felt the same way. People were just kinda wandering around, glancing at booths. I was the most popular booth at the event, which is great for me, but it made me sad to see so many guests just buzz by the other tables without really stopping.

BONUS TIP:

Have FOOD at your booth. Whether it’s a bowl of candy, cookies, popcorn, I don’t care. Have something that will attract people. And KIDS. How hard would it be to print out some coloring sheets and throw a box of crayons in a bowl for kiddos?

And don’t be boring. If you’re doing a theme (cause you should be), relate it to the theme. Do you want to be remembered for boring mints? Or do you want to be remembered for handing out Pop Rocks with a sticker that says “(insert business) ROCKS”. Your coloring sheets for the kids, relate it to your theme. Do something to stand out from the crowd. Crazy sells.

Next vendor event I have, I bringing a megaphone. And anyone who shouts “I love (insert business) gets $5 off their order that day. Why? Because it’s INSANE. And HILARIOUS. And the fun people will DO IT! And when they do, guess what? Everyone will turn around and LOOK at my booth to figure out what the fuss is all about. They’ll wonder why we’re over there having fun and laughing. And they’ll be next.

Have a great week everyone! What is YOUR favorite thing to do at a vendor event? Tell us below!

Need an idea to celebrate your new consultants?

I came up with an idea that will help celebrate them AND get them excited about their business! And I knew just who to contact to help me carry it out. Julie Shilling is my go to graphics girl. She efficient, affordable, and provides excellent service and design.

So here’s what I did…

When a new consultant enters their first party, I wanted a way to reward them with something that would also help them market their business. I decided to do a catalog label design!

So let’s say they enter their first party…

I message my girl this graphic and say pick any design you want! I’m going to personalize these catalog labels for you!

Julie provides a PDF they can download and print their own labels from home!

She charges the leader (me) $15 for the initial design with team colors or whatever you want on these 3 choices. But guess what? For every new consultant you need the design for, it only costs $5! So I can reward my new consultants for $5! HECK YEAH! #SCORE

This is going to:

help her market her business

make her feel so proud to see her name on a beautiful design

get her excited about passing out those catalogs

and make her job easy by handing her a tool that is essential to her business

I am soooo ready for July! Breakout the corn on the cob, potato salad and S’MORES!!

I live for cookouts and grillin’ and all things red, white and blue! And since hubby does most of the grillin’ at our house, I am off dinner duty most nights! WOO HOO! “Honey, make me some CHICKEN!”

July is an extremely important month when it comes to preparing your success for the fall months.

It is much easier to MAINTAIN a business through the summer than to completely restart a business from square one in the fall. Trust me on this, been there, done that! NEVER AGAIN!

So here are 10 Ideas to ROCK your JULY:

#1 National Postal Workers Day Day (7/1)

Show some LOVE to your mailman or mailwoman on this day! Those are some of the hardest working people I have ever met. They are out there walking and working, so matter the weather. On days when I wouldn’t dream of leaving my house, I still get mail, isn’t that crazy? Those people never stop working and since I order A LOT online, I need to show my mail carrier some EXTRA LOVE. And how will I show him some extra love on July 1st? I will be sure to give him a free product (with a mini catalog inside) filled with snack and water bottles and a gift card to a local fast food restaurant!

And make sure you use appropriate hashtags and post a picture of it on your social media platforms. This is a great way to show off your product and pay it forward at the same time.

#2 – “Fast 4 on the 4th” (7/4)

This is a fun idea for a special promotion you can run on the 4th of July only. When someone orders 4 items from you, they get a free gift! You can have your graphic say something like “Purchase 4 items from me on the 4th of July and get a FREE gift!”, then be sure to put a couple product ideas on the graphic too!

#3 “4 for $40” Sale (7/4)

This is a 24 hour sale on the 4th of July only. Showcase some of your lower priced products and how they can get an awesome 4 for $40 deal, you can make a special flyer or image with the 4 for $40 products on it. This would also be a super easy Hostess-on-the-Go party where she just sells from the flyer!

#4 Support the Troops Fundraiser/Product Raiser

July is an awesome month to do something special for the troops. You could create a fundraiser and donate your profits to an organization that supports the troops, or you can use specific products from your company to donate to the troops. The customers buy products and donate them to the troops through you! You can use your commission to purchase care items to go in those too!

#5 – Run Your Own “Christmas in July” Sale

Choose 8-12 products to put on “sale” and create a cool flyer! People are naturally drawn to the word SALE (aren’t we all!!) and who doesn’t love a good Christmas in July sale!

This is an easy way to update your group and get a post into your group member’s news feeds. Make sure you are using that prime real estate of the cover photo space as best you can. Make sure you are not always just featuring product, be sure to include your smiling face sometimes! And use the group photo size 1920×1080 for optimal visualization of your awesome banner and details! For our American friends, think flags, red/white/blue, fireworks!

Make sure you are updating your Facebook Business Page with the season, you definitely don’t want a cover photo featuring Christmas items up when it is July, unless you are doing a Christmas in July sale. Your cover photo is like your storefront window for your business, make sure it is attractive and in-tune with the season. Use a filter and add a summer frame, jazz it up! I saw lots of great frames on Facebook! Have you ever added a frame to your profile picture before? Just Click on your profile picture (update profile picture), then click on Add Frame at the top, then search for “4th of July” or whatever else you want and add a frame! Easy peasy!

Don’t forget to join Directly Social on Facebook:

#8 Post engaging content the whole month of July!

Your followers and customers LOVE great content that makes them want to engage. I love to do trivia with my group, they’re all over it. Find yourself some fun July trivia and ask a new question every couple days and see what people say! They just can’t help themselves, they all want to prove they know the answer too, so they comment even when the trivia question is already answered! LOL!

#9 Create a JULY Ideas Pinterest Board and share it

Head over to Pinterest and create a theme board specifically for July and pin what you love for July (tips, recipes, crafts, DIY, outdoor cleaning, etc). Once you have a minimum of 10-15 pins (I am sure you will find far more that you love), share the link to your Pinterest board in your customer group, your FB business page, your personal timeline, your customer newsletter, etc. Think all things summer and share those cute tips and ideas to get people sharing your content. Share a tip a day or at least a few a week! Share it everywhere! Invite them to follow you while they are over on Pinterest!

#10 Host a Fireworks Frenzy!

Are you familiar with the Turkey Trots and Reindeer Romps? The Fireworks Frenzy works the exact same way! You get 6 people to collect $100 in orders, they start collecting on July 1st through 15th. You put all the orders in as one single party and split the hostess benefits/gifts. You can run special promotions like they get an extra gifts for being the first to turn in their order, for have $200+ in orders, etc. You can run one group the 1st-15th and another group on the 16th-31st!

I honestly hear from my Directly Social group members every single day asking for help on how to get people to engage with them in their Customer Groups.

Now, I’ve been focusing more on my business page than my customer group. So just know that these ideas apply to both.

Pay attention to what catches your eye and what stops your thumb scroll. What gets the coveted “reaction” from you, or better yet, what gets a comment or a share? Your group members are just like you, so once you figure out what gets interaction from you in other groups/page, you will better understand how to post things that get engagement in your own groups.

I will share some ideas of what gets great interaction for me in my customer group, which I discovered based on my own social media behaviors. Now, just because these work for me doesn’t mean they are the magic pill for you and your group, these are just ideas. You need to commit to doing the work and finding out what DOES work for your group.

1. Creating Polls:

Every time I create a poll in my customer group, I get fantastic interaction. Polls are great for waking the dead in the group too, it seems like people I haven’t “seen” in my group in months come out of the woodwork to participate in a poll!

Which room do you need to organize the most?

Living room

Kitchen

Bedroom

Here’s a video on how to create a poll in your customer group: CLICK HERE

2. Asking Questions:

If you want people to engage with you, ASK QUESTIONS! It gives them permission to respond, otherwise they just scroll on by! This is called a CTA or Call to Action. I never let a post leave my fingers without a CTA attached to it at the end of the post.

Post a picture of what you’re doing and ask…What is everyone doing this weekend?

That’s a CTA!

3. Posting Interactive Posts:

Some of my best engagement posts have been where I ask my group “Have you ever tried XYZ?” or “Have you ever heard of ABC?”. Sometimes it is specific to my product, but most of the time it is not. It is usually something “mom” related, or something that would be considered parallel content to my product line, so maybe something about organization, packing, etc. Everyone has an opinion they want to share about those interactive questions and I am always loving their comments!

Who has been to the Container Store?

Who has an IKEA near them?

How do you store your Tupperware containers? I need a new system!

Those are examples of interactive posts.

4. Rewarding for Interaction:

I wholly believe in rewarding what you want repeated, so I reward people who hop on live to my Facebook LIVES. I have GREAT interaction and attendance on my FB Lives in my group! It might be a discount for all of them, it might be a digital goodie, or maybe a free product drawing, it all depends on the LIVE video. They never know what I might giveaway or do, so they are sure to hop on as soon as they get the notification for fear of missing out on something awesome! #FOMO !

5. Games:

I love games and reward for them. You don’t have to give away the farm to do giveaways often. I just went to Party City last night and got a Minnie Mouse lunch box, adorable pen, and cup for $2.50 for the whole set. My customers get giddy about little cute collections like that. I scour the clearance bins there, Target, Dollar Tree.

I do a giveaway every Friday. They know it’s coming. When you get people participating, Facebook believes they WANT to see your posts and they show them more often.

Here’s an example of a fun game:

Click on this link and you’ll find a million of these Family Feud ones you can make:

I want to make my Customer Group and Facebook Business page a place where I personally want to come every day! I want to LOVE my own pages/groups! Here’s the deal, guys…. we are in the Customer EXPERIENCE and ENTERTAINMENT business, regardless of the product line we are selling! Think about it! People buy from people they know, like, and trust and I want to be that person for them. If they do not LIKE you, they will not BUY from you.

And did you notice anything about all the posts above?

NONE of them have anything to do with YOUR PRODUCT! Stop shoving sales and bookings down their throat with every single post. If your goal is community and interaction, you must focus on creating that environment. And salesy, spammy posts are not going to get it.

I am 100% committed to the experience, entertainment and engagement of my group and business page members. Are you?

Hellooooooo summmer!!! I am so excited summer is finally here and I can spend some quality time with my kiddos, making memories & making messes!

We have a whole summer bucket list that I cannot wait to get started, including a Donut Trail here in Cincinnati where you visit 12 different donut shops, they stamp your passport and you get a free t-shirt at the end! We are gonna be in donut heaven! (Local friends – check it out here: https://www.gettothebc.com/donut-trail)

Who else is excited to get their summer on? Summer is an amazing season of the year, but you need to keep in mind that it is just a season, and if you don’t work it right, your business could totally wilt or die this summer if you don’t continue to water, nurture and plant new seeds. You will have no fall business if you don’t keep your summer business moving!

So here are 10 Ideas to ROCK your June:

#1 National Donut Day (6/1) – Idea #1

Hello?? This might just be the best day of the year, right? Be sure to be one of the first announce National Donut Day to your followers so they hear it from you first. Schedule your post using CinchShare to hit your FB business page at 6:00am, then turn around and SHARE that post from your public business page to your Customer VIP group and your personal timeline on Facebook so you will be the first in their timeline to tell them what day it is, and they will share your post with all their friends!

#2 – National Donut Day (6/1) – Idea #2

You can even take it one step further and do a little research about who has free donuts on that day, I know that Krispie Kreme and Dunkin’ Donuts both do something that day! Be a resource and your followers will definitely share your posts!

#3 National Donut Day (6/1) – Idea #3

Do a “Donut Drop” at a local business or office! This is something you will need to start working on this week. You make a post to your FB Business Page, your Customer Group and your timeline asking if anyone works in an office that would like to host a Donut Drop party with you. You will bring a dozen or so donuts, catalogs and order forms to her office and she can do a catalog party with donut bribery for her co-workers! You can do with with cookies on another day (Cookies and Catalogs), but just imagine if you lined up 2-3 Donut Drop parties on June 1st! It is a Friday (payday!) and you can close the parties a couple days later. You could have a couple thousand dollars in sales the first week of June just from the Donut Drops! Take lots of pictures and share them on social!

#4 National Donut Day (6/1) – Idea #4

“Do-nut” miss the opportunity to really play up this day in your social media posts. You can share products and specials that your followers “donut” want to miss out on, or “you donut know how excited I am about this new product”. Or letting them know that they are the “icing on your donut”, “I donut know what I would do without you”, “I like you a HOLE lot”, “hope your day is sprinkled with fun”. You can have so much fun with this day and your followers will have a blast because it is fun and different! Run a contest and give away a gift card for donuts!

This is an easy way to update your group and get a post into your group member’s news feeds. Make sure you are using that prime real estate of the cover photo space as best you can. Make sure you are not always just featuring product, be sure to include your smiling face sometimes! And use the group photo size 1920×1080 for optimal visualization of your awesome banner and details!

Make sure you are updating your Facebook Business Page with the season, you definitely don’t want a cover photo featuring Christmas items up when it is June But I cannot tell you how many times I see this on some of your business pages. Your cover photo is like your storefront window for your business, make sure it is attractive and in-tune with the season. Use a filter and add a summer frame, jazz it up!

#6 Beach Bucks

Remember Cupid Cash from February and the Bunny Bucks in April? You can totally summer-ize it up by allowing your customers to “earn” $1 in Beach Bucks for every $10 they spend with you in June. The Beach Bucks are only redeemable with you and only redeemable in the following month, in this case July. So this idea gets you sales this month and potentially next month too. If you want to move some cash and carry products, you could easily change the coupon to where they can only redeem the Beach Bucks toward something you have cash and carry and then payout the difference. For example, if they have $10 in Beach Bucks and the item is $31, they give you the $10 in Beach Bucks and pay the $21 difference. That’s a sale for June AND a sale for July!

Don’t forget to join Directly Social on Facebook:

#7 Happy Mail – Send crazy fun goodies in the mail to upcoming Hostesses and team members

Imagine what the response will be when you a flip flop or beach ball to a Hostess in the mail (no box or envelope) letting her know she will FLIP over the Hostess special this month, or you cannot wait to have a BALL with her at her party! Walk around your local dollar store, pick things up, ask yourself “Can I mail this?” and figure out a fun pun or play or words that you can feature with your happy mail! If this mailing stuff without a box or envelope freaks you out, go and and box it up, but I will tell you it is far more fun to get sill random stuff in the mail without the envelope. They REMEMBER this and they remember you (and they talk about you and share on social media)!

#8 Share summer recipes, crafts and tips with your followers

One of the best things you can do to have your followers engage with you is to curate good seasonal content that your followers will love and share! Think all things summer and share those cute tips and ideas to get people sharing your content. Share a tip a day or at least a few a week!

#9 Create a June Ideas Pinterest Board and share it

Head over to Pinterest and create a theme board specifically for June and pin what you love for June (tips, recipes, crafts, DIY, outdoor cleaning, etc). Once you have a minimum of 10-15 pins (I am sure you will find far more that you love), share the link to your Pinterest board in your customer group, your FB business page, your personal timeline, your customer newsletter, etc. Share it everywhere! Invite them to follow you while they are over on Pinterest!

#10 Summer-ize Your Vendor Booth

Summers are a great time to do vendor booths at fairs and festivals. People completely pre-judge your vendor booth in about 3 seconds. Think about ways you can completely “summer-ize” your table and display to make it attractive to those scanning the room or just passing by. Be sure to use colors that go well together, maybe just 2-3 colors. Keep things simple and clean! I have seen amazing vendor tables in the summer, using beach towels as tablecloths, pool noodles as jewelry bumps for bracelets and watches, sand buckets to hold Hostess Packets and goodies! You can really have a lot of fun and catch a lot of attention with a seasonal table.

Think what you want to about Donald Trump, but I will tell you, I used to LOVE his show The Apprentice and his infamous “You’re Fired!” at the end of each episode.

I loved the urgency and intensity of the show and loved to see how people perform under pressure and rise to the occasion! People can do amazing things under pressure and when they feel the urgency to get things done. For me, it gives me sheer adrenaline to work on risky projects and try things I have never done before in my business. I never want to get to a place of complacency or apathy in my business, where I just don’t care to work for it anymore…where I’m content to sit on my butt and watch the world around me. That is not me, that is not in my nature, and it shouldn’t be in yours either!

I get it, some weeks and months are harder than others and sometimes you just don’t have anymore gas in the tank. But let’s get real! Most of the time you’re honestly just being the worst boss ever in your own business! You’re not getting things done, you’re making excuses, you’re piddling around doing things that bring no real value or $$$ into your business. You’re “playing business” and not actually working a business.

Businesses MAKE money, hobbies COST money!

I am going to share with you a little tidbit that I heard many years ago in my direct sales career, so long ago that I can’t actually remember who originally said it, “You many need to fire yourself from the business. Yep, that’s what I said, sometimes you might just need to give yourself the old heave-ho!”. Think about this scenario; if you worked at a company and you had an employee performing the way you are performing in your business right now, would you keep them on the payroll? If yes, awesome! But I would venture to guess that most of you would say NO WAY! You would fire you in a heartbeat — so do it now! Yes, I am giving you permission to completely fire yourself from your own business!

Even for me, there are some months where I just royally screw up my business. I get comfortable in my day to day, I do the mundane business tasks with no sense of urgency and basically just “exist” in the business and perform like a lifeless robot. I need fired, I deserve to be fired! So every now and then… I DO fire myself completely from the business. I fire myself on a Friday for being ineffective and not doing what I know needs to be done for my job to grow my business. Then I will spend the weekend thinking about what I know needs to be done and coming up with a plan to make that happen. Then I rehire myself on Monday morning to get things done right.

How are things going in your business? Do you need to go all “Donald Trump” on your own butt and give yourself a pink slip? If you’re not working your business with urgency & intensity, if you are not leaping out of bed each morning because you are so excited about what you are doing and who you’re helping, you should be fired!

My favorite plan of action to REBOOT:

2 days: Make a list of all the things you need to get done in the next two days. These are #1 priority. And this list needs refreshed often.

2 weeks: Make a list of all the things that need done in the next two weeks. And refresh this list every couple of weeks.

2 months: Make a list of all the things that need done in the next two months. This is where your quarterly planning comes in; upcoming holidays, incentives, sales, etc.

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Complacency & apathy will be the death of your business, do not allow it to come to that.

Deep down, regardless of what you portray to others or make yourself look like on social media, you know if you’ve been slacking in your business. If you’re doing enough to just get by and hoping the “boss” doesn’t notice…you need to get a grip! Since you’re the boss…you’re just cheating yourself and your family out of success. So take a page out of Donald Trump’s show, maybe it’s time to say “YOU’RE FIRED“! Wipe the slate clean, get your thoughts and plans together and then rehire yourself to rock your biz!

Here’s the truth… ya’ll are just making this business too hard!

Get out of your own way, stop “thinking” about working your business and actually get out there and work it! Many of you spend more time thinking about working than actually doing anything constructive for your business and it needs to STOP!

I am going to give you my super simple “Power of 3” routine that you can use every day, with actionables that can actually move your business in a positive and profitable direction.

Now let’s break down what each of these looks like:

Make 3 new connections daily – in order to grow your business you have to meet new people, you can’t do this business without people! Right? So how are you meeting new people every day?

Invite 3 people to look at my product/biz opportunity/booking options/ fundraisers, etc – how are you getting yourself in front of people and when you do get in front of them, what are you doing that will grow the business? Are you prepared when you do get an opportunity for people to look at what you have to offer? Do you have catalog, host packets, recruiting packets, video links, etc prepped and ready to go at a moment’s notice?

Follow up with 3 people – this should go without saying but are you actively following up on the leads you are collecting? Or maybe we should actually start with are you actively collecting leads for your business? What tools do you need to be able to do effective follow up. If you are not doing your follow up communications/calls, you are leaving serious cash on the table.

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Do 3 random acts of kindness or appreciation – let me say this as kindly as possible, this business is not about you! And the sooner you come to realize that, the sooner you will start to see tremendous success. This business is about growing people and empowering them to be who they were created to be. It is not about you, it is about them. If you do not like people, you are in the wrong business, my friend. We are a people business and we need to learn to care more about our fellow people. We need to be kind at all times, I think sometimes we forget the sharpness of our keyboard swords. Speak to people like the humans they are, appreciate people for good work or things you recognize in them. I promise if you take the spotlight off of you and consciously start focusing on others, you will see rewards.

Do 30 minutes of personal development (video, book, audios, podcasts) – this is an area that so many of you are literally STARVING your businesses in. How are you filling up and learning new things? How are you getting educated? You need a constant flow of good business building information coming into you, whether it be from reading or one of my personal faves is podcasts. Find a good one that feeds you and listen to it every day for 30 minutes. Throw a load of laundry in and hide in the laundry room with it so you can get your personal development thing ON!

Do 30 minutes of “me” time (exercise, quiet time,etc) – again, you cannot pour from an empty cup, you need to get refilled and sometimes that refill comes from making yourself a priority verses an afterthought. Take 30 minutes a day and you just do you. I personally like a quiet time where I can just silence the world around me for a little and not be while and not be constantly rushing to the next thing. There will always be a next thing, but there is only one of you and you need to take care of you.

Like I always say, keep it simple and do the actionable. Thinking about working and actuallyworking are not the same thing. Get out there and DO SOMETHING with your business every * single * day!

Oh May! I am desperate for your beautiful weather, I need to get these kiddos out of the house!

Can’t you just hear Justin Timberlake singing “It’s gonna be May”! (You know you just totally read that like he sings it! Well done!)I am excited to throw open the windows and let some gorgeous May weather come flooding in my house! This is more than Spring Fever, ladies, this is “Mama needs a break, go play outside” fever!

Got the fever too? Ready to ROCK your business in May? Here are some fun May Marketing Ideas to get you moving and shaking today for an awesome May!

#1 May Day (5/1)

This day is all things flowers. Do you sell a product with a flower pattern on it? Or sell something that has to do with flowers? You will want those products to be your marketing focus for May Day.

#2 – Cinco de Mayo (5/5)

You could have a blast with this holiday as a theme party in a home or online. Think Mexican food, drinks, fun and fellowship. Do you have products that lend themselves to food or cookware, this is a perfect one for you. Do you like margaritas? nuf’ said!

#3 May the FOURTH Be With You (5/4) and/or Revenge of the Fifth (5/5)

All my fellow Star Wars fanatics will be all over this one! Can you imagine how much fun this would be as an online Facebook Party theme? Complete with theme-y recipes and drinks, games, trivia, etc. Who wouldn’t want to attend an awesome party like that?

This is an easy way to update your group and get a post into your group member’s news feeds. Make sure you are using that prime real estate of the cover photo space as best you can. Make sure you are not always just featuring product, be sure to include your smiling face sometimes! And use the group photo size 1920×1080 for optimal visualization of your awesome banner and details!

Make sure you are updating your Facebook Business Page with the season, you definitely don’t want a cover photo featuring Christmas items up when it is May. But I cannot tell you how many times I see this on some of your business pages. Your cover photo is like your storefront window for your business, make sure it is attractive and in-tune with the season. Use a filter and put some flowers in your hair or add a flowery frame, jazz it up!

#6 May Day Mon-aaaay (go on, say it, it is fuuuun!)

Remember Cupid Cash from February and the Bunny Bucks in April? You can totally May-it-up by allowing your customers to “earn” $1 in May Day Mon-aaay for every $10 they spend with you in May. The May Day Mon-aaay is only redeemable with you and only redeemable in the following month, in this case June. So this ideas gets you sales this month and potentially next month too. If you want to move some cash and carry products, you could easily change the coupon to where they can only redeem the May Day Mon-aaay toward something you have cash and carry and then payout the difference. For example, if they have $10 in May Day Mon-aaay and the item is $31, they give you the $10 in May Day Mon-aaay and pay the $21 difference. That’s a sale for May AND a sale for June!

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#7 Happy Mail – Send flower seeds to upcoming Hostesses and team members

Imagine what the response will be when you send flower seed packets through the mail. Just slap a mailing label and stamp on them and you can mail them. To your hostess you can mail Forget Me Nots and say something about them being an unforgettable hostess, for team members you can send any type of blooming flower packet and let them know how excited you are to see them “blooming” in the business! Scared to mail the seed packet by itself? You can always throw it into an envelope!

#8 Share cute spring recipes, crafts and tips with your followers

Think flowers, planters, spring meals, bird houses, anything May-ish! People love that kind of thing and cute tips and ideas get shared!! This is called “curating content”, go find something cool on a blog and share it!

#7 Create a May Ideas Pinterest Board and share it

Head over to Pinterest and create a theme board for May and pin what you love for May (tips, recipes, crafts, DIY, outdoor cleaning, etc). Once you have a minimum of 10-15 pins (I am sure you will find far more that you love), share the link to your Pinterest board in your customer group, your FB business page, your personal timeline, your customer newsletter, etc. Share it everywhere! Invite them to follow you while they are over on Pinterest!

#8 Spring-ify Your Vendor Booth

We are heading into vendor booth season again! People completely pre-judge your vendor booth in about 3 seconds. Think about ways you can completely “spring-ify” your table and display to make it attractive to those scanning the room or just passing by. Be sure to use colors that go well together, maybe just 2-3 colors. Keep things simple and clean!

#9 Host a Mother’s Day event

Did your company come out with new products recently? Host a Mother’s Day theme event, either in person or online, celebrating the mamas out there. Even if they didn’t come out with anything new lately, it doesn’t matter! Spring-ify the current offerings and get people excited! People are looking for Mother’s Day gifts, why not help them get it from you? Get out there and market yourself and what you have to offer the moms in their lives.

#10 Bundles! Bundles! Bundles!

Bundles are fun and fast sellers! Can you create some fun baskets or bundles with your products? Some of my faves in the past have been nail polish bottles filled upside down on the top of a stem like flowers! Or hand lotions tucked inside gardening gloves. Think outside of the box. People LOOK for things that are different, be what they are looking for! Create 4 Spring bundles and post one a week with $5 if they order during that weekly deal